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This is one of those topics on which I can pretty much guarantee 90% of people are going to disagree with me. If I didn’t wholeheartedly believe my thoughts were 100% backed by scripture, I’d shut up and go to bed. I need more sleep anyway. But I do believe scripture states exactly what I will outline here, and ultimately it’s God’s word that matters, not mine. Of course, you may still disagree with me. So here goes.

It’s been over a year since we left. Over a year that we have had to think and pray about where we were and where we are now. A year in which we began to forgive and forgave completely. A year in which we have learned about many others who were damaged by the church we loved for so long. A year where we searched and lamented searching for a new place to worship. It’s been a difficult year, but one God has used to build us up in our faith in Him and diminished our confidence in men. [Read More…] about When Church Hurts – Part II

In the past few years, I’ve seen many articles written about people who have been abused by those in the church. Spiritual abuse or manipulation. Sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior. Given that much of this abuse is from pastors, it could be said the church itself has abused these people. I’ve heard stories from friends and I’ve experienced it myself. It’s one of those things you don’t really notice until it happens to you, and then you can’t escape it. A lot like choosing a name for your child that is no where on the SSA top 100 list and then hearing it called every 10 minutes at the playground. Except much, much more serious. Much, much more damaging.

The murder of 17 people a couple of weeks ago has turned into a political debate. And that makes me quite angry. 17 humans made in the image of God deserve far more than a political row, with both sides of the aisle virtue signalling themselves into an ineffective (and dishonoring) quagmire of propaganda. 17 people, most of them children, died at the hands of a very troubled young man who had more issues than the weapons he carried, which by the way he should never have owned. Neither side has the answers because they’re ignoring the real issue, which is and has always been the state of the human heart, as this article so poignantly states.

I casually mentioned it while drinking my coffee that morning. I knew my girls would hear about the horrific events that unfolded the day prior and wanted them to be prepared. Without freaking them out. “So, there was a kid who took a gun into a school in Florida yesterday and killed 17 people. Most of them were kids, but a few adults were killed too, who tried to protect the kids.” That was that. It was much like the conversation we had in November when a guy shot up a church in Texas, murdering 26 people, and another guy rented a truck and mowed down people in New York, murdering 8. Or in October when over 50 people were murdered in Las Vegas. Or in September when the videos from 9/11 were on TV and we talked about the murder of thousands. Our kids have become accustomed to events that were absolutely unthinkable when I was a kid. They’re seeing evil demonstrated so often in this world that it doesn’t really phase them. Because it hasn’t directly affected them. Not yet.